NO ONE HAS lit up the guitar community — excluding Nuno Bettencourt with his breathtaking “Rise” guitar solo last year — quite like Matteo Mancuso. The 27-year-old Sicilian released his first album, The Journey, last summer and would be the first to admit his life has become a bit of a blur ever since, from the onslaught of tutorial videos dissecting his fingerstyle method to ending up as the most talked about musician at this year’s NAMM Show.
And although it’s his technique that will undoubtedly be responsible for forging a lot of those unforgettable first impressions, hitting the same speeds Paul Gilbert and Al Di Meola are known for using just his fingers, it’s the sheer sense of musicality that makes his debut full-length such an electrifying listen from beginning to end. There are moments of unbelievable virtuosity that nod to jazz fusion masterminds like Guthrie Govan and Greg Howe packed alongside the melodic grace one might associate with Eric Johnson and the avant-garde tension typified by Pat Metheny. In that sense, the Palermo-born Yamaha endorsee is very much the full package. And this is just the start of his journey.
Like many rock players, it was the era-defining works of Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimmy Page that first caught Mancuso’s ear. His classical techniques, however, were inherited serendipitously — the result of growing up around a musician father who’d often play nylon-string acoustics at home.
“I started out on electric because I actually wasn’t too interested in classical,” the rising star says with a nervous laugh. “But when I was young I always saw my dad playing classical acoustic. I ended up with a strange combination — playing electric but with my fingers, because I thought that’s how you’re supposed to play. When
